A Chat with the Managing Editor
S
ir Knights and Ladies, the time has come for me to step down as managing editor of the Knight Templar magazine and to turn my attention to other important matters. I edited my first full issue in October of 2008, and as I look back over the past fourteen years, I see how the magazine has changed and matured. This experience has been a great one for me; a learning experience, a happy experience, and sometimes a frustrating one. The main thing that I will remember and cherish about this, my third career, is all of the friendships I have made with both the knights and their ladies. I hope that these friendships endure for many more years to come. I appreciate especially all the encouragement I have been blessed with from the brethren as well as from their ladies. Another group I especially appreciate is the more than 2,000 students I have had the privilege of training on the principles of effective leadership. I have tracked many of your Masonic careers, and I am most impressed with the manner in which you have successfully applied those leadership principles. One of the many surprises I have had was when I learned how many of the ladies actually read the magazine. Early on, I made one of the first of my many mistakes and placed a photo over the last few words of an article. Before that, I wasn’t really sure if anyone was actually reading the magazine. When that issue hit the mail, I received nearly 1,000 e-mails and phone calls wondering where the rest of the article was! Even more surprising was the fact that about half of these inquiries came from ladies. Imagine my surprise! At least I found out that you were paying attention. When I first began, the magazine had a circulation of about 118,000 readers. We are now down to less than half that number. Things continuously change, and some of them are beyond our sphere of influence. Lady Glenda who has proofread, at least twice, each of the 165 issues we have produced and Precious the cat who supervised the production of each issue will now get a rest from the monthly deadlines, too. From our family to yours, may God be with you and bless you all your days. John L. Palmer, PGM, GCG Tennessee Managing Editor (Retired)
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